Expensive and inexpensive wines taste the same, research shows

Apr 15, 2011 By Maroulla Georgiou

(PhysOrg.com) -- Psychologist Prof Richard Wiseman (University of Hertfordshire) today revealed the results of The Taste Test - a large-scale experiment to discover whether expensive wines are good value for money. The experiment was carried out as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival and involved over 400 members of the public tasting either an expensive or inexpensive wine, and then trying to tell which was which.

The inexpensive wines cost less than £5 per bottle, and the expensive ones were priced between £10 and £30. The experimenters tested a mixture of red and white wines from various countries, including Sauvignon Blanc, Rioja, Claret and Champagne.

The test was conducted 'double-blind', with neither the tasters nor experimenters knowing the cost of the wine. By chance the volunteers would have correctly classified their wine as expensive or inexpensive 50% of the time. Volunteers' actual accuracy was exactly at chance, demonstrating that they could not distinguish between the two types of wine by taste alone.

"These are remarkable results," commented Wiseman. "People were unable to tell expensive from inexpensive wines, and so in these times of financial hardship the message is clear - the inexpensive wines we tested taste the same as their expensive counterparts."

The Edinburgh International Science Festival runs from 9 to 22 April 2011 with over 200 events in 30 venues across the city.

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Another BS test. Anyone with a brain knows that expensive wine can taste bad and inexpensive wine can taste good. I like Yellowtail reds, taste good and cheap. I like German whites and the more expensive usually taste better. Nothing like a good Spatlese or Auslese while the cheaper qualitattswein is almost always not as good. I'll take a cheaper sweet Asti over dry Champagne any time no matter how expensive.

I'll bet they didn't go to much length to do a fair test of identical types of cheap and expensicve wine.

For the vast majority of products there is no correlation between price and quality.

There usually is.

Of course there are some product that many don't like regardless of cost, like caviar.Quality ingredients, quality production produce a quality product. In a competitive market, that quality usually costs a bit more but it shows in value.

"The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory."Gucci

"Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. A product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality." Drucker

After the first few sips of wine/beer/liquor, it all begins to taste the same. Drink an Arrogant Ba$tard Ale and all other beer tastes like water.

I think the real deal is that professional tasters can tell the difference, but the general public cannot. There is a sub variety of human called variously 'tasters', and/or 'smellers' who can detect subtle tastes and/or smells far better than the average person. My late wife was such a person until shortly before she died. Whether this is because of heredity, or because we average folks dull our senses with bad food and strong spices, I cannot say. But I do know that professional tasters on that test would have fared far better. For the rest of us, just buy a good quality cheap wine from California and you cannot go wrong. ....or New York...or Michigan...or Ohio..or Washington...you know the drill.

I have had expensive champagne - Don Perrignon, 1985, $300.00. I have had a very nice bottle of Spumanti for $10.00. The name/price factor doesn't get in my way and I always look for new wines from new regions, many of which are excellent. Keep an open, not snobbish, mind and drink what tastes good to you. I happen to think champagne goes great with a great, homemeade cheeseburger.

I really don't like Arrogant Bastard. Because of their marketing, they've found a way to make an otherwise lopsided beer a good sell. Not to my taste I guess. I've always been partial to Tripel Karmeliet and the like. It's hard to go wrong with a good beer from Belgium.